I'm no expert at propagation, but when I look at QRZ and SolarHam and see that the bands are open and registering a noise level of S0 to S1 -- only to turn my rig on and hear nothing but extreme QRN on all HF bands. The only band that had any ops was 40 meters, and even those were few and far between; the noise on that band was slightly below S9 but still far out of the ordinary.

My rig has its own circuit, so there was no electrical interference from the house. Could there really be such a tremendous difference between what I hear here and what is reported in other North American areas such as those where QRZ and SolarHam are located? If so, why is this?

(You see, my aim is to become much more proficient in this interesting area of radio!)

It's not that bad - with limited antennas (Hustler mobiles on a metal roof) I'm hearing lots of signals on 80 and 40 meters right - 1940 local, thanksgiving evening. Nothing on 160, or 30 through 10.What kind of radio, and antenna are you using? A separate AC circuit in the house doesn't keep any electrical noise out of your radio. A power strip with RF filtering might help some. Is the noise level still high when you disconnect the antenna ? Have you checked the antenna connections ?A portable AM walkman type radio can help you find noise sources - tune it between AM BC stations and see where the noise is the loudest.Let us know what you try, what you find !

Fred's idea about tracking down QRM with a portable receiver is good advice. Other sources of QRM are nearby computers, plasma screen TVs, defective doorbell transformers, touch lights, aquarium heaters, wall warts, electric motors, defective ballasts in home and street lighting, electric fences, etc., and the noise could be coming from a neighbor's house, or from neighborhoods away that is radiated through the utility lines. If you can shut off the main circuit breaker in the house, and the noise goes away, then you can assume the source is somewhere on your own property.

A good reference for identifying and tracking down noise is The ARRL RFI Book. Let us know what you find. GL

A week or two ago I was listening to the noise on both 160 and 80m. It was horrible,about s9. I went up to 40m and couldn`t believe the difference. Just some slight static crash on 40,not bad at all. Sometimes 80 isn`t that bad. I`m just thankful it`s not real noisy 24/7.

The very first thing to do is to power the radio from a battery and shut off the main breaker to the house. If the noise is still present look outside the house. If the noise is gone the noise source is in your house.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. Since the S9+ noise level came and went on that day, the 22nd, I can't put the suggestions to use right now -- noise levels are back to normal, and except for the incoming CME yesterday, all is well. However, next time I do hear this anomaly, I will get out the battery and the generator, and run a few tests without household power, and will post my report here.

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